News Round-Up

• “There’s no case for the remaining Covid restrictions” – Ministers should stop ignoring the inhumane treatment of the elderly, whom the remaining impositions unfairly target, says the Telegraph in its leading article.
• “We all broke lockdown, and we should have broken it more” – Time to admit it: the rules were always silly, and often cruel, writes Alys Denby in the Critic.
• “‘We were fools to follow the rules’? No, you were monsters” – Laura Perrins in TCW says people need to wake up to how inhumane they were in what they did and required of others during lockdown.
• “Don’t just do something, stand there!” – Dr. Malcolm Kendrick returns to the subject of Covid with a commendation of the importance of considering doing nothing when all the other options cause harm.
• “Democrats Still Support Draconian Covid Measures” – Shocking poll from Heartland/Rasmussen that finds 59% of Democrats support Government forcing Americans to remain confined in their homes if they refuse the Covid vaccine.
• “If Governments Cannot Forecast, They Should Let Markets Try” – There are structural reasons government bodies cannot reliably forecast for themselves, relating to groupthink, flawed incentives and explicit agendas, writes the Brainfart Policy thinktank in its latest report.
• “The flaw in the NHS app that could still ruin your holiday” – An illogical loophole means you could be banned from boarding a flight – but there is a workaround if you’re savvy, writes Greg Dickinson in the Telegraph.
• “Care homes to allow unlimited visitors from Monday as England ends Plan B rules” – Self-isolation periods for care home residents who test positive will be reduced from 14 days to 10, Sajid Javid announced, reports the Telegraph.
• “Life after Plan B: are we ready for the ‘new normal’?” – Sam Ashworth-Hayes in the Spectator makes a reasoned plea for returning to something as close to the old normal as possible.
• “Omicron has bounced back ‘sooner than expected’” – The Mail reports on the ZOE app findings that symptomatic Covid is up 10.4% in a week, driven by primary school children.
• “Forced return to offices is making staff consider switching jobs as Plan B restrictions end” – Workers across the U.K. are considering changing jobs as employers force staff back into the office, reports the i.
• “Free bacon sandwiches and coffee to lure commuters back on the railways” – Commuter rewards website also offering free audiobooks and discounted theatre tickets as part of Government charm offensive, reports the Telegraph.
• “In Fortress New Zealand, faith in Saint Jacinda is starting to fade” – As the toothy tyrant backtracks on reopening and reverts to Zero Covid in the face of Omicron – imposing some of the most extreme isolation rules and travel restrictions among Western nations – her poll ratings are sliding, writes David Cohen in the Spectator.
• “How lockdown-loving lefties turn New Zealand into a hermit kingdom” – While the rest of the world moves forward, it feels like we in New Zealand are moving backwards, reduced to look on enviously as you go about your business, writes David Seymour in the Mail.
• “Corrie’s Sean Ward homeless after sharing anti-vaxxer views” – Coronation Street star Sean Ward has revealed he is homeless after speaking out against the coronavirus vaccine, reports the Mail.
• “Pfizer Chairman and CEO Albert Bourla Speaks with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Today” – Read the revealing CNBC interview with the Pfizer boss, in which he candidly admits the “vaccinations seem to produce not very durable immune protection” and they “don’t have the safety profile that we hope we can achieve with this technology”.
• “Menstruation and COVID-19 vaccination” – Dr. Victoria Male in the BMJ summarises a new study that finds the vaccines do affect menstruation, but gives us no answers as to why or what it might mean for fertility.
• “The Covid evidence dismissed by the BBC as ‘conspiracy-laden’” – Sally Beck in TCW Defending Freedom summarises the current consideration of alleged criminal wrongdoing in relation to the Covid vaccines by the Met and its misrepresentation by the BBC.
• “NHS workers launch legal challenge against Government over vaccine mandate” – The workers are being backed by campaign groups Together and NHS100K with solicitor firm Jackson Osborne representing them, reports GB News.
• “Neil Young never stood a chance against Joe Rogan” – Many people have tried podcasting, but the comic didn’t become the world’s number one by accident, writes Douglas Murray in the Telegraph.
• “NHS officials took £70,000 drug company bribes, then ‘switched’ patients’ medication, court told” – Paul Jerram and Dr David Turner are accused of breaching their positions and acting as ‘paid influencers’ for pharmaceutical companies, the Telegraph reports.
• “GPs told to resume face-to-face appointments as focus shifts from rollout of Covid booster vaccines” – Health chiefs want ‘routine service’ restored as fears are raised about the difficulty to see a doctor – particularly for the elderly, reports the Telegraph. They’re worrying about this now?
• “Hong Kong is on its knees and China must decide whether it lives or dies” – China is gambling the territory’s status as an international hub by pursuing a hopeless Zero-Covid strategy, writes Ben Marlow in the Telegraph.
• “Pfizer anti-COVID pill’s dangerous interaction with common drugs will narrow its benefit, experts say” – A component of Paxlovid can interact dangerously with a slew medications, pumping up the potency of blood thinners, heart-arrhythmia therapies, epilepsy drugs and others, reports the National Post.
• “Given I’ve had the infection and worked with patients with Covid for two years, I can hand-on-heart say I’m as immune as anyone else can claim to be” – Watch NHS consultant Dr. Simon Fox talking to Julia Hartley-Brewer on talkRADIO about how he could be sacked under Sajid Javid’s NHS vaccine mandate.
• “The argument there is it’s going to reduce transmission and infection rates it doesn’t do that” – Watch Dr. Steve James, who confronted Sajid Javid over the NHS vaccine mandate, speak to Nigel Farage on GB News.
• “Why Environmentalists Pose a Bigger Obstacle to Effective Climate Policy than Denialists” – “Precisely because they had the science on their side when it came to diagnosing the problem, environmentalists have been far too complacent about questioning their preferred solutions,” writes Maarten Boudry in Quillette.
• “Research: another casualty of woke” – UKRI distributes £8 billion of public money for research each year, and has just drafted a woke new DIE strategy which commits to “treating people equitably to achieve equality in outcomes”, making employees “inclusive in all that they do” and having a “representative and diverse workforce”, writes Andrew Tettenborn in Spiked.
• “The hypocrisy of the knee-takers” – Marcus Rashford has been photographed alongside a notorious racist – where’s the outrage, asks Brendan O’Neill in Spiked.
• “Looking back we have to ask ourselves were they right in regards to the lockdowns?” – Toby criticises SAGE’s modelling of the pandemic and how it informed Government policies on GB News.

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